97 Days, 12 Countries, 1 Kangoo

Greetings from Mougins!

Taice and I are currently in the south of France, just a few kilometers north of Cannes. The weather has been slightly cooler than Portugal, but quite manageable. It will make for a nice transition from Portugal to here to Paris and then Boston, where we have been kept abreast of the relentless snowfall. we hope everyone is having fun shoveling.

As some of you may know, we made a slight planning snafu when we booked a timeshare in the Cote d'azur immediately following the week in the Algarve. Turns out - it is an almost 17 hour drive from Lisbon to Mougin - but we did not want to pay for accomodations in two places at once. So, we dropped the Kohns off at the airport and hit the road. Since Taice has not driven standard in at least a decade and only twice ever - I was going solo. The breakdown:

• 4 tanks of diesel
  
• 77 euros in tolls
  
• over 1700 kilometers
  
• 1 ham sandwich each
  

Although I was a bit bleary eyed when we pulled into Mougins at 2:45am - we made great time. The best part for me was first watching Taice nod off for most of northeastern Spain and then hearing her exclaim on the phone to Steph the next day "I can't believe I did it!". It really was a noble effort on her part.

We have spent most of the week day-tripping to nearby towns and cities. We have preferred the small, quaint French hilltop villages (Mougins, Tourette, Gourdon) to the larger seaside cities (Nice, Cannes) but the most interesting place so far was Monaco. All I really associated with Monaco before the trip was F1 racing, ritzy casinos and Princess Grace. Turns out - I almost had it all figured out. But to see it in person was something else. The entire principality is smaller than Central Park, and it is chock full of expensive cars, enormous yachts, public elevators, marble and locals who seem so happy that Taice suspects they are all drugged. The 'fairy-tale land' feeling was cemented when we walked back past the prince's palace on our way to the car and found it to be surrounded by young children and their parents. Getting the sense that something was going on, we joined the crowd and waited. Each one of the children was holding a personal invitation from the Prince of Monaco to come to the palace on that day at an assigned time for Christmas. Only when some children began exiting the palace with gifts did we create a hypothesis on what was happening. Imagine being 8 years old and getting a invitation from the young Prince (who's portrait is in many store windows) to come to the palace. Then going inside, meeting him and receiving the gift you had previously requested. (we think). Just a bizarre place. So, now the joke is that when we see a car with Monaco plates in front of us in traffic, we picture the driver wiping his ass with 100 euro notes and siging songs about the Prince. The pics will provide more color on this enchanting place.

I have felt like a real 'frenchie' this week. Finally, we are driving a French car with French plates in France. Also, each day we pick up our baguette and wine on the way back to our villa and listen to French pop the whole way home. Our first trip to the grocery store here led me to pick out way too much cheese (see pics), not enough wine and just enough cookies.

Although the French tend to get a bad rap in the US, the experience thus far has been incredible. The people have been pleasant and extremely patient with our minimal and horrific French, which half the time is a mish mosh of the Italian, German and Spanish words we know with a slurred accent. The food is wonderful, the towns are picture perfect and everyone is in the Christmas spirit. (We've also been watching alot of the BBC, which may explain my love for positive adjectives)

Since this may be the last entry before Christmas, we wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays! We miss you alll and we hope to share a cocktail, meal or laugh with you all when we return.

A special congratulations to Mike for landing a dream job this week. I have enjoyed watching your talents blossom from Mrs. Reising's Photography class at Amity High School to now, the general managing photographer for the Boston Red Sox! Taice and I are so excited for you! Maybe one day you'll own a World Series ring that I can try on.

Happy Holidays to everyone again - talk to you soon!

Chris and Taice

Here are the pictures:
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=184195168/a=7226152_7226152/t_=7226152